What you need to know before you jump into Influencer Marketing

Lifestyle, fashion and beauty brands have clambered over themselves to start working with some of the biggest movers, shakers and social influencers over the last couple of years. ‘Social influencers’ might sound like something from Mean Girls, but they’re usually models, bloggers, trainers and influencers who’ve grown a large following on social media. Brands and influencers have found that working together can be very fruitful.

With Generations Y and Z spending a lot of their time online, they’re looking to influencers for advice, instead of traditional celebrities. Brands are always trying to generate trust and working with an influencer can provide more authenticity, as it puts a face and a personality to a product. So, what do you need to know before you look at Influencer Marketing for your brand?

Be Realistic

Working with social influencers is a new-fangled idea, so you need to approach it in the right way. Only a fifth of respondents to Econsultancy’s, ‘The Voice of the Influencer’ survey were full-time influencers, so first of all, it’s important to be realistic about what your influencers can do for you. You’re not taking on an employee; you’re collaborating with someone who’s got other responsibilities too. So, if you’re putting on an event, think about timing and when you can get influencers involved. Communication is key and trying to work out how much time influencers can commit to your brand will make it easier to plan content, events and advertising.

Your Brand

60% of social influencers say that brand reputation and heritage are really important factors when they decide to work with someone. Doing you research before you reach out to influencers is crucial, as it has to be a good match for them too; monetary gain isn’t their sole motivation! Create a package that shows who your brand is, why it’s great and why you want an influencer to get on board. It’s not a simple transaction. An influencer’s reputation is on the line as well, as by their very nature they need stay true to themselves in order to continue having a loyal follower base. Exposure is important for influencers but they want authenticity too.

Personal Branding

It’s all about building a robust personal brand for social influencers. When there are more and more avenues that allow successful influencers to actually carve out a nice little career, they’re looking for opportunities that’ll lead to longevity. In a heavily saturated market, influencers need to stand out , be bang on-trend and consistently create engaging content. If your brand is relevant and can help an influencer grow their position in a particular area then this will help their personal branding strategy.

Getting an influencer on board and allowing them to have creative freedom and have lots of input with content generation shows that you have confidence in them and are happy for them to have responsibility. Letting influencers use their own voice and content should be why you’re working with them in the first place and their followers will be able to tell partnered posts are authentic. Giving influencers more control is something that’ll become more prominent and more of a priority for influencers when they look to work with new brands.

Value

Influencers can be really valuable for your brand. They’ll bring with them an already formed core audience, so you’ve already got something to work with. They can help you to move into a new area, reach out to specific demographics and they can give you great insight about what their audience likes and wants, from years of interaction with them. Social media posts, sponsored posts, campaign specific requirements, events, advertising and content promotion are all ways of working with influencers and increasing both brands value.

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AUTHOR:
Laura Cooper

Laura's a credited comedy writer who's written for the BBC, Huffington Post and Buzzfeed. A creative at heart, she's our lead content writer at huzzah! digital and in her spare time can be found typing away for her own music/pop culture blogs.